Snowstorms to hit central, southern Illinois hard as Chicago area gets a few inches

Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune

A motorist clears snow from a vehicle along North Troy Street in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood as near-blizzard conditions dump snow on the city on Nov. 26, 2018. Areas south of I-80 are expected to be hit hard by snow on Jan. 11, 2018, with some snow in Chicago.

A motorist clears snow from a vehicle along North Troy Street in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood as near-blizzard conditions dump snow on the city on Nov. 26, 2018. Areas south of I-80 are expected to be hit hard by snow on Jan. 11, 2018, with some snow in Chicago. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

The Chicago area was expected to see snowfall starting late Friday and going much of the day Saturday as most of Illinois was under winter storm warnings and advisories, with up to 9 inches of snow forecast for southwest parts of the state.

Snow began falling in southwestern Illinois midafternoon and was expected to spread northeast throughout the evening, reaching the Chicago area by early Saturday.

Snow totals were to taper to the northeast, with parts of southwest Illinois forecast to receive up to 9 inches and the Chicago area expected to get 1 to 4 inches. Much of central Illinois was forecast to receive 6 to 8 inches.

“Light snow will spread northeast after midnight, not beginning in the Chicago metro until or just after sunrise Saturday,” the National Weather Service said. “This mainly light snow will persist through Saturday. Higher amounts of (3-plus) inches will be along and south of (Interstate 80), while north of (Interstate 88) there may be very little snow at all.”

The weather service issued a winter storm warning for areas of central and southern Illinois including Springfield, Champaign and Carbondale. A winter weather advisory was in effect for Bloomington, Peoria and areas north.